Francísco Ximénez (November 28, 1666 – c. 1729) was a Dominican priest who is known for his conservation of an indigenous

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

narrative known today as the ''

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Q ...

''. John Woodruff has noted that there remains very few biographical data about Ximénez. Aside from the year of his birth, baptismal records do not agree on the actual date of his birth, and the year of his death is less certain, either in late 1729 or early 1730. He enrolled in a seminary in

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and arrived in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

in 1688, where he completed his novitiate. Father Ximénez's sacerdotal service began in 1691 in

San Juan Sacatepéquez San Juan Sacatepéquez () is a city, with a population of 155,965 (2018 census)Citypopulation.de
Population of ...

and San Pedro de las Huertas in present-day

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

where he learned

Kaqchikel Kaqchikel, also spelled Kaqchickel, Kakchiquel, Cachiquel, Cakchikel, Caqchikel, or Cakchiquel, may refer to: * Kaqchikel people, an ethnic subgroup of the Maya * Kaqchikel language, the language spoken by that people {{disamb Language and national ...

, a Mayan language. In December 1693, Ximénez began serving as the ''Doctrinero'' of San Pedro de las Huertas. He continued in this office for at least ten years during which time he was transferred to Santo Tomás Chichicastenango (also known as Chuilá) between 1701–1703. He was also the

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of Rabinal from 1704 to 1714 and further served as the Vicario and Predicador-General of the same district as early as 1705. His time in Santo Tomás Chichicastennago from 1701 to 1703 is probably when he transcribed and translated the ''Popol Vuh'' (see image on the right — Ximénez does not give it its modern title). Later in 1715, Ximénez included a monolingual redaction in his commissioned ''Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Gvatemala''. He has two other known writings, ''Primera parte de el tesoro de las lengvas 3a3chiquel Qviche y 4,vtvhil'' and ''Historia natural del Reino de Guatemala''.Note that the Parra characters for the tresillo and quartillo have been approximated with Arabic numerals.

Notes

References

* Rodríguez Cabal, Juan. ''Apuntes para la vida del m.r.p. presentado y predicador general fr. Francisco Ximénez, O.P.'' Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1935. * Tedlock, Dennis. ''Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life''. Revised ed. New York: Simon, 1996. * * Ximénez, Francisco. ''Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la orden de predicadores''. Ed. Carmelo Sáenz de Santa María. 2 vols. Mexico: Consejo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Chiapas, 1999.

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